Device with an EEPROM Having Both a Near Field Communication Interface and a Second Interface

ABSTRACT

A peripheral device and a method for programming the read/writeable memory of the RFID circuitry by communications between either RF antenna or bus communications port controller interface or both. In the peripheral device, an EEPROM , bus communications controller interface, NFC interface, antenna, and logic controller operate to receive and transmit configuration and calibration data between a wireless personal area network circuit and an external wireless personal area network enabled device. The dual interfaced EEPROM is operable to share or partition its EEPROM between an NFC interface and a bus communications controller.

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.13/863,071 filed Apr. 15, 2013, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 13/597,182 filed Aug. 28, 2012 (now U.S. Pat. No.8,447,233) which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.12/377,616 filed Feb. 16, 2009 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,280,304) which is aNational Stage Entry of PCT/IB2007/04647, filed Aug. 15, 2007, andclaims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/838,103 filedAug. 15, 2006, which is hereby incorporated by reference for allpurposes as if fully set forth herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the electronic communicationbetween electronic components. More specifically, embodiments of thepresent invention are related to systems that use Near FieldCommunication (NFC) or other smart card technology along with an EEPROMto store system configuration data.

In recent years there has been a significant increase in the amount anduse of mobile devices such as cell phones and personal data assistants(PDA's). This trend is expected to continue as more consumers becomemore driven to maintain personal communications as they transit to andfrom various locations. The demand to be more mobile and not weighed bycumbersome instruments is placing demands on the communications industryto produce smaller, cheaper, and more easy to use devices.

Previously, peripheral devices were connected to the host device througha communications cable. BLUETOOTH technology replaced the cables andmaintained the requisite level of data security. Generally, a BLUETOOTHenabled peripheral device can connect to other BLUETOOTH enabled devicesin its proximity. These devices connect through a synchronized shortrange network known as a piconet. Each device may communicate with up toseven separate devices within a piconet. Each BLUETOOTH enabled devicemay also belong to several separate piconets simultaneously. Once aBLUETOOTH enabled device is synchronized within its piconet network, thedevice that provides the synchronization is referred to as the masterand all the other devices within the piconet are referred to as theslaves.

BLUETOOTH mobile peripheral devices have been developed to enableconsumers to utilize their mobile phones, BLUETOOTH enabled PDA's, andmobile computer devices (hereinafter “mobile device”) without acumbersome cable tethering one device to another. Peripheral devices,such as BLUETOOTH enabled headsets are convenient, but must beauthenticated with a single mobile device to form the piconet therebetween. This process of authentication is also known as pairing.

Presently, pairing is accomplished by the user manually entering the PINof the BLUETOOTH enabled headset into the mobile device. After enteringthe PIN, the two devices exchange configuration information such as thelink key. The headset stores the configuration data in an ElectronicallyErasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM) and utilizes this datato re-authenticate with the mobile device. This process of manualpairing by the user enables the mobile device to find the headset,connect to it wirelessly, authenticate the headset, and then encrypt thelink. The consumer cannot effectively pair or program a BLUETOOTHperipheral headset or other BLUETOOTH peripheral device (ex. Printeraudio device, or other mobile device etc.,) via any other mechanism thanwith the manual process of the user inputting information required toestablish the pairing. Such a manual process is cumbersome andpotentially prone to user's mistakes and to third party securityattacks.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In addition to the authentication that is stored in the EEPROM, a Bluetooth peripheral device such as a BLUETOOTH headset needs to storeadditional information such as calibration information or SW patches.This additional information is usually programmed into the EEPROM duringthe manufacturing process.

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide a device andmethod for storing data received from Radio Frequency (RF) or hard wiredconnections and a method for programming an electronically erasable readonly memory with either RF received data, from hard wired transferreddata or from both. An exemplary device includes circuitry that transmitsand receives data to and from an onboard electronically erasable memoryvia a passive NFC transceiver. The exemplary device further includes acommunications controller associated with the electronically erasablememory that communicates with a BLUETOOTH enabled device. A passive NFCtransceiver is a tag that is not able to initiate communication byitself, but instead needs an active NFC reader/writer device to initiatecommunication.

An exemplary method includes providing a single EEPROM that can receiveconfiguration data via NFC and then allow a BLUETOOTH enabled device touse the configuration data to enable the BLUETOOTH communicationconnection with another BLUETOOTH enabled device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the method and apparatus of the presentinvention may be obtained by reference to the following DetailedDescription when taken in conjunction with the accompanying Drawingwherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a peripheral device in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary state diagram of the communications commands forthe information to be conveyed from a mobile device to a peripheraldevice via NFC; and

FIG. 3 is an exemplary flow chart diagram of the communications path forthe information to be conveyed from a mobile device to the peripheraldevice.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention utilize NFC or other smart cardtechnology to obtain authentication information and then use an EEPROMto store the obtained authentication information. The EEPROM can thenprovide the authentication information to associated BLUETOOTH circuitrytherefore enabling pairing with another BLUETOOTH enabled device.Embodiments of the present invention may include BLUETOOTH headsets thatcontain a passive radio frequency identification (RFID) tag. A RFID tagcontains an internal read/writeable memory, an antenna, and additionalcircuitry that enables the RFID tag to receive and respond to radiofrequencies. The RFID tag and the BLUETOOTH headset circuitry arecombined such that they share a common EEPROM memory.

BLUETOOTH is an industrial specification for wireless personal areanetworks (PANs), also know as IEEE 802.15.1. BLUETOOTH provides a way toconnect and exchange information between devices like personal digitalassistants (PDAs), mobile phones, laptops, PCs, printers, digitalcameras, appliances, video game consoles, and other electronic devicesvia a secure, globally unlicensed short rang radio frequency. Suchdevices may be referred to as wireless personal area network enableddevices or peripheral devices. It is understood that other wirelesspersonal area network communication specifications, besides BLUETOOTH,may be used in embodiments of the invention. Furthermore, specificdetails of specific circuitry in exemplary device, other than detail forembodiments of the invention that would be contained, for example, in amobile phone headset for a personal area network, are included in thefigures because such features are readily known by one of ordinary skillin and/or will clutter the Figures. For example, headphone, or printercircuitry is not specifically depicted in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 1, an exemplary block diagram of a peripheralBLUETOOTH enabled device 1 is shown. A dual interfaced EEPROM 2 isprovided having an NFC or RFID interface 8 that may communicate with anexternal device 22 via antenna 12.

The external device 22 may be a mobile device or other device thatincludes an NFC or RFID reader/writer 24 that can send data or otherinformation via antenna 20 to an exemplary BLUETOOTH enabled device 1via antenna 12. The antennas 12 and 20, in accordance with embodimentsof the invention, must be near each other in order to communicate. Adistance between 0 to 10 centimeters is necessary for propercommunication between antennas 12, 20.

The external device 22 provides authentication data for the peripheralBLUETOOTH enabled device 1. The authentication data is received via anRF signal 3 by antenna 12, and provided to the NFC interface/RFIDinterface 8. The NFC interface/RFID interface (hereinafter “NFCinterface”) 8 stores the authentication data in the EEPROM 6 inpredetermined memory locations. An exemplary NFC interface 8 receivesand sends signals and information in accordance with ISO/IED 14443 or aderivation thereof.

A logic controller 10 acts as one of the EEPROM's interfaces. The logiccontroller 10 acts as a command interpreter that handles commands usedto access the EEPROM 6 and for providing anti-collision control. Theanti-collision control is based on an IC's individual serial numbercalled a Unique Identification (UID) which may be 7 bytes long andsupports cascade level 2 in accordance with ISO/IEC 14443-3 or aderivation thereof. Other length UID's may also be used.

The exemplary dual interfaced EEPROM 2 can share its EEPROM 6 throughboth the NFC interface 8 and the bus communications controller interface4. The bus communications controller 4 may be an I2C or other serialport interface. The bus communications controller 4 allows the EEPROM tobe used by electronic circuitry such as the BLUETOOTH circuitry found ina BLUETOOTH enabled device. The EEPROM 6 can be accessed by an externaldevice 22, via antenna 12, NFC 8 and interface 10, in order to andobtain store authentication data or other semi-permanent data.

The EEPROM 6 can be sub-divided such that parts of the EEPROM 6 can onlybe written to or read by the bus communications controller interface 4,the NFC interface 8 or both. The partition information can beprogrammable through any of the interfaces 4, 8 and made permanent bythe programming of a specific bit, blowing a fuse or other known method.

One exemplary memory map for the EEPROM 6 is shown in Table 1. Theexemplary dual interfaced EEPROM 2 has 512 bits organized in 16 pageswith 4 bytes per page. The first 80 bits are reserved for manufacturerdata comprising the unique (UID) 7 byte serial number (SN0, SN1, SN2,SN3, SN4, and SN5) its two check bytes (BCC0 and BCC1) and a bytereserved for internal data (Internal). The next 16 bits are used for aread only locking mechanism (Lock0 and Lock1) that locks each page from3 to 15 individually to prevent further write access. The next 32 bits,page 3, are available as a one time programmable (OTP) area. The final384 bits are user programmable read/write memory. The OTP and first pageof read/write memory can be programmed with the Address andConfiguration data. The EEPROM, in an exemplary embodiment, may bememory mapped in various different ways and be larger than 512 bits. Infact it is reasonable for the EEPROM to have from 256 to about 4 Gigabits of memory space. As technology advances, the memory size may alsoincrease.

TABLE 1 An Exemplary Memory Map Byte Number 0 1 2 3 Page Serial NumberSN0 SN1 SN2 BCC0 0 Serial Number SN3 SN4 SN5 SN6 1 Internal/Lock BCC1Internal Lock0 Lock1 2 Address External External External External 3Config Start0 Start1 End0 End1 Address Internal Internal InternalInternal 4 Config Start0 Start1 End0 End1 Data Data0 Data1 Data2 Data3 5Read/Write . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Data DataN − 3 DataN − 2DataN − 1 DataN Read/Write

The dual interfaced EEPROM 2 is provided having a bus communicationscontroller interface 4 that may communicate with a BLUETOOTH circuit 40via a serial data bus 31. If the serial data bus is an I2C bus then aserial clock line (hereinafter “SCL”) 30 and serial data line(hereinafter “SDA”) 32 may be used. The BLUETOOTH circuit 40 provides asecret number hash 200 to the EEPROM 6 of the dual interfaced EEPROM 2.The secret number hash 200 is received via the data bus 31 by buscommunications controller interface 4. The bus communications controllerinterface 4 writes the secret number hash 200 to the EEPROM 6 in one ormore predetermined memory locations. The bus communications controllerinterface 4 receives and sends signals and information between theEEPROM 6 and BLUETOOTH circuit 40.

The dual interfaced EEPROM 2 can also transmit data through the NFCinterface 8 to an external device 22 or transmit configuration datathrough the bus communications controller interface 4 via data bus 31 tothe BLUETOOTH circuit 40. This two-way communication capability allowsan exemplary peripheral BLUETOOTH enabled device 1 having the exemplarydual interfaced EEPROM 2 to be configured or paired through the antenna42 or through the antenna 12. The dual interfaced EEPROM 2 can also beconfigured to notify BLUETOOTH circuit 40 when new or additionalconfiguration data is received from the NFC interface 8. This two-waycommunication capability allows a peripheral BLUETOOTH enabled device 1with a dual interfaced EEPROM 2 to use the EEPROM 6 to store BLUETOOTHconfiguration data and be paired to the external device 22 through theNFC 8 related antenna 12 from the external device antenna 20 or perhapsthrough the BLUETOOTH antenna 42 via the external device BLUETOOTHantenna 28.

Embodiments of the present invention that provide the addition ofnon-active NFC to a device or application can be done with a small,incremental cost. A BLUETOOTH peripheral device, such as a BLUETOOTHheadset for use with any type of BLUETOOTH enabled phone orcommunications device, could store configuration data or pairinginformation from the BLUETOOTH antenna 42 or via an NFC option utilizingthe RF antenna 12 using the exemplary dual interfaced EEPROM 2. ABLUETOOTH headset comprises at lease one earphone and a microphoneallowing a user to both hear and speak to another party using acommunication device.

With the dual interfaced EEPROM 2, the devices 1 and 22 can share thenecessary authentication data through a process known in the exemplaryinvention as simple pairing. Simple pairing is when the two devices 1and 22 perform a pairing process without a user being required tomanually enter or select pairing configuration data. Simple pairing isinitiated with a device discovery process. As shown by an exemplarystate diagram in FIG. 2, the external device 22 initiates a command andthe dual interfaced EEPROM 2 generates the appropriate response. Wheninitiated by the external device 22, the Power On Reset (POR) 50 setsthe system to idle 52. A request (REQA) command 53 or a wakeup (WUPA)command 54 sent from the external device 22 moves the dual interfacedEEPROM 2 to the Ready1 state 56. Here the dual interfaced EEPROM 2resolves the first part of its UID (3 bytes) with the anti-collision 58or a SELECT command 60 of cascade level 1. Any other data received instate Ready1 56 is interpreted as an error and the dual interfacedEEPROM 2 jumps to its waiting state (IDLE 52 or HALT 62, depending onits previous state). Otherwise, with the SELECT command 60, the externaldevice 22 brings the dual interfaced EEPROM 2 into state Ready2 64. Inthis Ready2 state 64, the dual interfaced EEPROM 2 resolves the secondpart of its UID (4 bytes) with the Anti-collision command 66 of cascadelevel 2. It leaves this Ready2 state 64 with a Select command 68 ofcascade level 2 from external device 22. The response of the dualinterface EEPROM 2 to the Select command of cascade level 2 is theSelect Acknowledge (SAK) byte. This byte indicates whether theanti-collision cascade 66 procedure is finished. Now the dual interfacedEEPROM 2 is singularly selected and only this device 1 will communicatewith the external device 22 even if other NFC devices are in the fieldof the external device 22. The device 1 is the active state 80 and, nowa READ 70 or WRITE 72 command can be performed. The BLUETOOTH Addressand configuration data of the peripheral BLUETOOTH enabled device 1 cannow be communicated to the external device 22 along with the secretnumber hash 200 as shown in FIG. 3.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 3, there is an exemplary flow chart diagramof the data flow through the dual interfaced EEPROM 2 is depicted. TheBLUETOOTH circuit 40 sends a secret number hash 200 through the serialdata bus 31 at step 102. The secret number hash 200 is then transferredat step 104 to the bus communications controller interface 4; then atstep 106 to the EEPROM 6. When a user places the external device 22within about 10 centimeters of the peripheral BLUETOOTH enabled device1, simple pairing is initiated. The NFC or RFID reader/writer 24 sends aDetect NFC TAG command at step 108 to the NFC interface 8. The NFCinterface 8 subsequently sends a TAG Detected signal at step 110 to theNFC or RFID reader/writer 24. The user is prompted as to whether theywould like to pair the peripheral BLUETOOTH enabled device 1. If theuser responds through the user interface (not shown) that a pairing isdesired, then the NFC or RFID reader/writer 24 sends a Read MemoryInformation command at step 112 to the EEPROM 6. At step 114, secretnumber hash 200 is then sent to the NFC or RFID reader/writer 24 and,subsequently, to the external device 22 BLUETOOTH circuit 26 at step116. Once the external device 22 BLUETOOTH circuit 26 has the secretnumber hash 200, it can establish secure and trusted communications withthe BLUETOOTH circuit 40 through antennas 28, 42 at step 120 andexchange the necessary pairing information 220 at step 130.

Embodiments of the present invention do not require manual programmingof the BLUETOOTH configuration data. Instead, the embodiments can besimply paired via a NFC wireless link. Thus, a user's experience differsfrom the previous manually programmed BLUETOOTH paired devices. Withembodiments of the present invention, the user is only required to placethe external device 22, such as a cell phone, and a peripheral BLUETOOTHenabled device 1, such as a BLUETOOTH headset, into a pairing mode. Theexternal device 22 and a peripheral BLUETOOTH enabled device 1 can beplaced in a pairing mode in a number of ways including, but not limitedto, a button press or user interface command on both devices, and thenmoving the devices into near proximity or touching the devices to withinabout 10 centimeters of each other. Another example would be when a usertouches the two devices together such that the NFC related antennas 20and 12 of the external device 22 and the peripheral BLUETOOTH enableddevice 1 are close or proximate to each other. The user may then beasked, via a user interface, whether he/she wishes to pair theperipheral BLUETOOTH enabled device 1 with external device 22. If theuser indicates, via the user interface, that a pairing is desired, thenan exemplary pairing method is performed without requiring manual entryof pairing data from the user. This is can be a single touch or voicecommand experience by the user. At the beginning, the external device 22uses the BLUETOOTH address provided by the peripheral BLUETOOTH enableddevice 1 to establish the communication connection while the other dataexchanged and stored in the EEPROM 6 are used during authentication.Since NFC communicates at about 10 centimeters or less, this exemplarysystem and method creates a high security condition that minimizeschance of a third party attack.

Additional embodiments of the present invention include utilization of aSerial Peripheral Interface (SPI) or a parallel interface in the placeof the I2C for the bus communications controller interface 4.Additionally, the BLUETOOTH circuit 40 communicating to the buscommunications controller interface 4 can be substantially anymicrocontroller that uses and associated or external electronicallyerasable or flash memory. Such a microcontroller may be included in anelectronic device such as, but not limited to, wireless LAN, a PDA, andelectronic toy or gaming device, audio or video device, lock/securitysystem peripheral device, or various secure door mechanism, commercialor industrial applications utilizing microcontrollers and requiringsecure data transfer. Furthermore, the dual interfaced EEPROM 2 can beused to replace a more expensive NFC Device when there is a need forshared memory and communication.

Many variations and embodiments of the above-described invention andmethod are possible. Although only certain embodiments of the inventionand method have been illustrated in the accompanying drawings anddescribed in the foregoing Detailed Description, it will be understoodthat the invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed, but iscapable of additional rearrangements, modifications and substitutionswithout departing from the invention as set forth and defined by thefollowing claims. Accordingly, it should be understood that the scope ofthe present invention encompasses all such arrangements and is solelylimited by the claims as follows:

1. A lock/security peripheral device comprising: a passive near fieldcommunication (NFC) interface; a data interface; a memory, wherein thememory is dual interfaced such that the passive NFC interface and thedata interface can both be used by the memory to transmit data; an NFCantenna, connected to the passive NFC interface, that is configured tocommunicate NFC signals with a first external device; and a logiccontroller in data communication with the data interface, wherein thepassive NFC interface and the data interface automatically share both asingle memory and necessary authentication data.
 2. The lock/securityperipheral device of claim 1, wherein the logic controller is aBluetooth™ circuit.
 3. The lock/security peripheral device of claim 1,wherein the memory is an electronically erasable programmable read onlymemory (EEPROM).
 4. The lock/security peripheral device of claim 1,wherein the memory stores authentication data received from the NFCinterface.
 5. The lock/security peripheral device of claim 1, whereinthe logic controller is configured to handle commands used to access thememory and to provide anti-collision control.
 6. A secure door mechanismcomprising: a passive near field communication (NFC) interface; a datainterface; a memory, wherein the memory is dual interfaced such that thepassive NFC interface and the data interface can both be used by thememory to transmit data; an NFC antenna, connected to the passive NFCinterface, that is configured to communicate NFC signals with a firstexternal device; and a logic controller in data communication with thedata interface, wherein the passive NFC interface and the data interfaceautomatically share both a single memory and necessary authenticationdata.
 7. The secure door mechanism of claim 6, wherein the logiccontroller is a Bluetooth™ circuit.
 8. The secure door mechanism ofclaim 6, wherein the memory is an electronically erasable programmableread only memory (EEPROM).
 9. The secure door mechanism of claim 6,wherein the memory stores authentication data received from the NFCinterface.
 10. The secure door mechanism of claim 6, wherein the logiccontroller is configured to handle commands used to access the memoryand to provide anti-collision control.
 11. A peripheral gaming devicecomprising: a passive near field communication (NFC) interface; a datainterface; a memory, wherein the memory is dual interfaced such that thepassive NFC interface and the data interface can both be used by thememory to transmit data; an NFC antenna, connected to the passive NFCinterface, that is configured to communicate NFC signals with a firstexternal device; and a logic controller in data communication with thedata interface, wherein the passive NFC interface and the data interfaceautomatically share both a single memory and necessary authenticationdata.
 12. The peripheral gaming device of claim 11, wherein the logiccontroller is a Bluetooth™ circuit.
 13. The peripheral gaming device ofclaim 11, wherein the memory is an electronically erasable programmableread only memory (EEPROM).
 14. The peripheral gaming device of claim 11,wherein the memory stores authentication data received from the NFCinterface.
 15. The peripheral gaming device of claim 11, wherein thelogic controller is configured to handle commands used to access thememory and to provide anti-collision control.